The present invention relates to the field of medical devices and, more particularly, to a safety feature for implanted medical devices (IMDs).
Implantable medical devices (IMDs) are a subset of medical devices that are partially or totally inserted into a human body or natural orifice (or is used to replace an epithelial surface or surface of the eye) and are expected to stay in place for over thirty days. Examples of IMDs include, but are not limited to: cardiac defibrillators (sometimes referred to as implantable cardioverter-defibrillator or ICDs), pacemakers, deep brain neurostimulators, gastric stimulators, foot drop implants, cochlear implants, insulin pumps, and the like. Some IMDs include wireless communication capabilities for communicating with various electronic devices like medical monitors or programmers.
Implantable medical devices (IMDs) extend the life and/or enhance the quality of life of millions of people. Many electronic devices encountered in our daily lives have the potential to interfere with the operation of an IMD. Often, the implantee, the person in whom the IMD is implanted, or an operator of the electronic device is unaware of the potentially dangerous interaction, particularly in an emergency situation where the implantee is unable to provide information about their health and IMD.
In the attempt to circumvent this problem, some IMDs have been designed to mitigate detected electromagnetic or radio frequency interference either by using materials that provide better protection or adjusting the operation of the IMD. While this type of approach addresses the problem, the IMD, a resource-constrained device, must be able to accommodate the additional space and power consumption to support the additional components required for mitigation. Further, these approaches are limited to only those devices that emit electromagnetic or radio waves. For example, this type of IMD would not prohibit an automated drug delivery system from administering pain medication that is known to adversely interact with the medication provided by a patient's implanted drug pump.